Cutting SVG Files in MTC

[Suzan]

Trust me I am the biggest loser of things.

[MaryP]

If when you close down the svg you choose not to save (what is then a blank screen) when it closes it will remain the original svg file.

Phyllis, I have made an MTC of the Winter Scene file. It will need resizing and it is in outline. As yet I don't know what to do to change anything but I did manage to put each part in layers. I don't know if it will help but I will PM it to you.

[SBryanW]

Hi MaryP - I just quickly read through this thread, but I didn't see anyone mention a couple of parameters that should be changed in Inkscape 0.47 and higher to help it read into MTC easier. Go to Inkscape Preferences (Ctrl+Shift+P), and under the SVG Ouput parameters, make sure that the "Allow relative coordinates" box is un-checked, and make sure the "Force repeat commands" box is checked. That should help files that are saved in Inkscape to be imported into MTC without missing or changed paths. Any new files created after these changes should be good. For existing files, I usually select all, and force a recalculation of the path by moving them (usually up arrow, left arrow, down arrow, right arrow so they move back to where they originated) and then save the file.

I can also help with the layers/colors too - in general, if you group shapes that have the same color together, they will remain grouped together in MTC and have the correct color. If you group things with different colors together in Inkscape, then when they are brought into MTC, the whole group will have the color of either the topmost shape, or the bottommost shape (I don't remember off the top of my head). At any rate, I would be happy to help you work out what would be the best process/routine to use that allows you to support MTC in addition to all your other formats and programs. My email is SBryanW on the gmail system (I think it is my profile here too).

MTC does have some very strange quirks to it. Also, I know if I open an svg from Illustrator I have to open it with 90dpi and inkscape stuff is 72. Or is it vice/versa.

@Suzan - it is 90 for Inkscape/MTC and 72 for Illustrator and SCAL (depending on the setting you use in SCAL).

Bryan

[Suzan]

Wow thanks for the info Bryan. That takes care of my MTC quirks. Great hearing from the Technical side.

[MaryP]

Many thanks Bryan. I do already have my preferences set as you suggest but thank you for mentioning it. I hadn't heard about forcing corrections on an old file that has problems so it will be good to see if I can use that on the file in question.

I tend to work in outline but I am happy to try anything to get this right. The file (in outline) that I successfully cut and pasted looked fine on the screen but in the layers boxes the large pages appeared black rather than outline, although there was no colour attached to them. It was not easy to see what they were. Can anyone tell me why? MTC is new to me but usually I am able to learn software quickly and would like to get to grips MTC, if only to make sure my files are displayed properly. I am off to watch a few videos on You Tube.

Again, very many thanks.

[SBryanW]

In MTC, if there is a closed path, there will be a fill shown in the layers window, even if you have outline only chosen on the virtual mat. If a color is not defined, the default is based off the current virtual mat (e.g. if you have the orange mat selected the default fill color is orange, for the contrast mat, the default color is black). That may be what you are running into. Let me know if that is not it.

[MaryP]

Many thanks Bryan. That makes absolute sense. I have now converted a few files and all seems to be going well.

[Suzan]

Don't you love it when a plan all comes together.